Ele B. Baggett Home
Belton, Bell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Construction on this Queen Anne style home, which features sunbursts in the gables, elaborate corner brackets, and fish-scale shingles, was begun in 1892 by Ele Bright Baggett (1847-1934) and his wife, Mary Carolyn (Butts). The house is across the street from the home of Baggett's father, Silas, one of Belton's founders. After Ele, his brother James Monroe, and their father served in the Civil War, they returned to Bell County and drove many herds of cattle to Kansas and Montana. Ele had interests in land, cotton gins, and banking. The Baggetts sold the home in 1900. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1983
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Ele Bright Baggett and his wife Mary Carolyn began this ornate Queen Anne house in 1892, its gable sunbursts and fish-scale shingles announcing the prosperity of a Bell County cattle family. Ele, his brother, and their father had come home from the Civil War to drive great herds north to the railheads of Kansas and Montana, and Ele parlayed the profits into land, cotton gins, and banking. His father Silas had been among Belton's founders, and the family home stood just across the street.
Why it matters
The house embodies the arc of post-Civil War Texas — from the long cattle drives to the settled wealth of Gilded Age town-building — written in wood and shingle.
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Related people
- · Ele Bright Baggett
- · Mary Carolyn Baggett
- · Silas Baggett
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Settlement along the Lampasas River began in 1847, and Bell County was created in 1850, taking its name from Peter Hansbrough Bell—a San Jacinto veteran, Mexican War officer, and governor of Texas. The county seat soon moved from Nolanville to Belton, and by 1860 nearly 4,800 people lived there. When the Civil War came, the county sent a dozen troop companies and supplied its cause with flour mills, a hat factory, tanneries, and workshops.
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